About Me

I am 40, married, and mother to two boys, Mikey, 18, and Joshua, 4. I also have two stepkids, Steven, 22 and Sonya, 20. We have 2 dogs, Scout and Sundae,and 5 cats: Grover, Bruce, Fooful, Gracie and Babie.

My Button

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

FO!! :o)

I finally finished a shawl I have been working on for a couple of months. For some reason, this just seemed to be the Eternal Never-Ending Project. I knit and knit on it, and it never seemed to get any bigger.

I think maybe it was the row repetitions getting to be old hat that seemed to make this take forever. And, I was also slowed up by having poison ivy down my right arm. I had to wrap my arm in a pillow case to be able to knit for about 3 weeks. Annoying!

But, fortunately, I did finally get it all done!

It got a nice lukewarm bath in the sink with some fabric softener, and now it's blocking on our dining room table. It definitely takes up the whole table! And the dining room smells like Snuggle fabric softener. :) So does Bruce the Cat since he (of course) had to give the drying shawl his Butt Blessing. Just proves how obsessed he is with sitting on all knitting or crocheting in this house....he sat on wet wool that smelled like tropical passion scented fabric softener AND that had multiple very sharp pins stuck in it. Silly cat!

And here's a close-up of the basic pattern.

I received this pattern in a mailing from the author Debbie Macomber this spring. I liked it, but used a heavier yarn to make it more of a fall weight shawl. The yarn I used was Red Heart Chunky Shetland in Heather Green. Chunky Shetland is a 75% acrylic/25% wool blend. I'm not sure if it's available anymore. I've had 20 skeins of this yarn in my stash for about 4 years or so, and just never had a project that fit it. It was just the perfect yarn for this shawl, so I was very happy to finally get to use it! I still have quite a bit left...the shawl used up 9 skeins. So I guess I have enough yarn to make another one! This one is going out to my SP as soon as it is dry. :)

So, that's one WIP down, several to go!

I pulled out a pair of socks I started in the spring and didn't finish. I'm using a simple cuff sock pattern that I got off the Bernat website a couple years ago. And I'm using Bernat Sox yarn in Hot Tamale. Both the pattern, and yarn, aren't available anymore. I don't usually use Bernat Sox since it is 100% acrylic....I just find it too hot for my tootsies. But, this pair of socks is for a little girl, and I figured it would be better to use yarn that won't shrink in the regular wash.

When this pair of socks is finished, I have one more pair in my WIP pile to finish up. Plus, I need to seam a pair of fingerless gloves, finish up 2 scarves and a hat. And I have a purse to make for an exchange.

I'm on a new project diet until then -- no new projects until all the old ones are done!!!